METAZOAN PARASITE INFRACOMMUNITIES IN 5 SCIAENIDS FROM THE CENTRAL PERUVIAN COAST

Parasitological analysis of 237 Menticirrhus ophicephalus, 124 Paralon churus peruanus, 249 Sciaena deliciosa, 50 Sciaena fasciata and 308 St ellifer minor from Callao (Peru) yielded 37 species of metazoan parasi tes (14 Monogenea, II Copepoda, 4 Nematoda, 3 Acanthocephala, I Digene a, 1 Aspidobothrea, 1 Eucestoda, 1 Isopoda and 1 Hirudinea). Only one species, the copepoda Bomolochus peruensis, was common to all five hos ts. The majority of the components of the infracommunities analyzed ar e ectoparasites. The Brillouin inner (H) and evenness (J') were applie d to the fully sampled metazoan parasite infracommunities. High values of prevalence and mean abundance of infection am associated to the po lyonchoinean monogeneans; the low values of J' reinforce the strong do minance of this group in the studied communities. The paucity of the e ndoparasite fauna may be a consequence of the unstable environment due to an upwelling system, aperiodically affected by the El Nino Souther n Oscillation phenomena.